Forum Brainstorming: Let’s Solve Token Dilution

ZootSax

There’s been a lot of scattered talk across the forum about token dilution and people have proposed their own various solutions.  The problem with scattered talk is that it’s hard to know which ideas were “heard” by the development team and it’s equally hard to know everything people have thought of, much less track them down later.  I was hoping that people could post/re-post/link their best suggestions so we can discuss amongst ourselves and hopefully provide several viable solutions to be considered.

I’ll get this started with an idea I’ve been kicking around, but haven’t shared before: a return to vaulting, of sorts, but more strategically executed than “latest 12 then oblivion forever”.

Here’s how it would work: each PVP season, the 3*’s and 4*’s available in tokens would be limited to the new characters from the previous two seasons (typically 3x4*’s and zero 3*’s), the weekly boasted characters during that season (five 3*’s and five 4*’s each week over a four week period) the essential characters in PVE  (one 4* & one 3* over seven events-plus whatever extras are boosted for boss events) and each featured PVP character, not including new releases not yet in tokens (ten total events between 3*’s, 4*’s and new releases).  This would reduce the number of 3*’s and 4*’s in tokens to 20-30 characters per tier each season.   Similarly, the boosted classic 5*’s in PVE would be more available, just as the latest 12 4*’s were more available after vaulting.  

So, the Latest Legendary Tokens would be:
15%: three newest 5*’s
85%: 20 weekly boosted 4*’s for that season, any new 4*’s from previous two seasons and any featured 4*’s in PVE and PVP, which aren’t already included in the previous categories

Classic Legendary Token:
7.5%: boosted classic 5* characters in PVE for the season
7.5%: all other “classic” 5*’s
85%: 4*’s same as Latest Legendary Tokens

Pro’s:
-reduces impact of character dilution by implementing regular, predictable vaulting rotation
-allows required and boosted characters during that season to get covers more easily  

Con’s:
-not all characters are available at all times, which hasn’t always been popular
-could unbalance “veteran” rosters who hoard 300+ pulls for the latest 3 5’s. 

I’m sure there’s other pro’s and con’s I haven’t considered, as i’m not a very competitive player.  What do you think and what other ideas do you have? 

(Incidentally, I’m aware this probably belongs in the Suggestions & Feedback sub-forum, but I’d kindly ask the mods for a few days in the General forum to get more visibility before it’s moved to it’s proper place.  Thanks)

Dlanning

I’d suggest one of 2 easy fixes:

1) take 2’s out of heroic tokens. 

2) leave 2’s in but make a 4 pull from heroic a garanteed bonus (like 3’s in standard). 

Simple. 

Colognoisseur

My solution is:

Latest Legends

15% latest 3 5*

*5% Latest 18 4* (i.e. the last year's worth

I further propose breaking Classic Legends into two or three pools of different 5* and 4* covering what isn't represented in the Latest Legends pool.

As an example

Legendary Avengers

15% Avenger 5*

85% 4* Avengers

Legendary X-Men

15% X-Men 5*

85% 4* X-Men

Legendary Villains

15% Villain 5*

85% Villain 4*

I know these aren't balanced pools they are just examples. If there were four distinct pools of characters within tokens it allows a player to concentrate on the cover they are chasing while increasing their odds of drawing it.

STOPTHIS

My thought years ago, before SCL was a thing, was that token pull percentages should change depending on your roster. At the time, the idea made sense to me since every other aspect of the game scaled to your roster like MMR and PvE opponents. I still think there's some merit to it with SCL now in place. The devs even reworked how SCL XP was earned so that reflected your roster better, which is fine, but the needs of a level 15 SCL aren't the same as the needs of a level 150 SCL, yet the pull odds are exactly the same for both. Just making up these numbers as an idea but something like:

Heroic token pulls

SCL 1-50

2* - 75%

3* - 20%

4* - 5%

SCL 51-100

2* - 50%

3* - 40%

4* - 10%

SCL 101-150

2* - 15%

3* - 60%

4* - 25%

SCL 151 - 200

2* - 5%

3* - 50%

4* - 45%

Classics

SCL 1-50

4* - 90%

5* - 10%

SCL 51-100

4* - 85%

5* - 15%

SCL 101-150

4* - 75%

5* - 25%

SCL 151- 200

4* - 60%

5* - 40%

Latest

SCL 1-50

4* - 95%

5* - 5%

SCL 51-100

4* - 90%

5* - 10%

SCL 51-150

4* - 85%

5* - 15%

SCL 151-200

4* - 80%

5* - 20%

Again, these are just from the top of my head. Admittedly, it doesn't do much to alleviate 4* dilution for newer players. But SCL is a cool thing that I think the devs are underutilizing and I think this could be an fun way to make it matter more.

I do like the idea of having more rotating stores to help people target certain characters. And if that became a regular thing, it might soften the 4* problem. More choices are always welcome!

Dormammu

I don't know, stop releasing a new character every two bloody weeks?

Colognoisseur said:

I further propose breaking Classic Legends into two or three pools of different 5* and 4* covering what isn't represented in the Latest Legends pool.

I also really like this idea.

Daredevil217

It'd be really cool if like, I don't know, maybe half the tokens were comprised of the latest 12 or so characters and the other half consisted of classic older characters.  That way we could champ newer characters while still making progress on older ones.

I'd love to here from a developer why this system couldn't work.

shardwick

My solution is for a semi-vaulted system where the latest 12 are in packs and then you would be able to choose 4-8 more characters to be in packs. Everything else would be vaulted but like bonus heroes you could switch up your 4-8 whenever you want. Maybe a 4* was just rotated out of the latest 12 but you still need one or two more covers to champ them, just give them one of your extra spots until you're done with them.

jredd

introduce a classic legends token. so those of us in 5* land that only use cp on latests still get pulls from the classic pool. 

Kahmon

Colognoisseur said:

My solution is:

Latest Legends

15% latest 3 5*

*5% Latest 18 4* (i.e. the last year's worth

I further propose breaking Classic Legends into two or three pools of different 5* and 4* covering what isn't represented in the Latest Legends pool.

As an example

Legendary Avengers

15% Avenger 5*

85% 4* Avengers

Legendary X-Men

15% X-Men 5*

85% 4* X-Men

Legendary Villains

15% Villain 5*

85% Villain 4*

I know these aren't balanced pools they are just examples. If there were four distinct pools of characters within tokens it allows a player to concentrate on the cover they are chasing while increasing their odds of drawing it.

Others have proposed something similiar, but breaking it up into pools by year. Class of 2014, 2015, etc.

Tony_Foot

Why is this an issue? Why make it easier for newer players to roster and champ older 4*s? It’s not like they will have the iso for four years to champ them anyway. May as well be a slow process, the near 29 million iso they currently need would be the bottle neck anyway. 

Champing the newer ones is still fast anyway, certainly faster than it was pre vaulting. I don’t place and only get progress rewards and champ them fast enough.

Im at the point I would be happy to have the old useless and badly made ones removed/retired and adequately compensated. Iso and HP back. You can start with Emma frost.

Scofie

What about a Bonus Hero token for a high level of CP or a rarer award (add it in vaults instead of the LL for example)? Same % split between 5* and 4* and draws randomly from your chosen BHs.

SaltyK

How about a "Hire your favorite character" token for the 4* tier?
You can select any 4* cover of your choice.
Available as the 28 day reward of the VIP pack?

Edit:
Maybe also be made available in the Deadpool vaults as one of the top prizes?
Reason being a guaranteed way to get a specific hero cover shouldn't be easily available.

DAZ0273

What about having a Bonus Hero booster you could use on one character. Say it gave you double or triple chance applied to one selected character over a certain amount of draws every week?

Ares76

Once you seriously enter 4*-land the problem is not getting covers but the iso to champ them - as mentioned before. I have about 40 of them champed but am sitting on 17 more ready to champ with tons of saved covers (thank you for that feature). The rest are at 10 covers at least and newer ones (right now it's Nebula) become bonus heroes until they are also ready for SHIELD training.
The problem with getting 5*chars in Latest can be solved by hoarding - which I have never done. The classic 5-stars could be obtainable when featured in special new release stores. You'd also have to hoard for these.
Increasing the odds for getting bonus 5-stars could help everyone getting their favourite characters faster. I remember receiving only 3 bonus heroes since it was implemented. Unfortunately those were 3 pre-nerf Gambit-covers for my now useless 5/5/2 (+3 covers) Cajun X-Men. I probably will stay in 4*-land forever. 

Malcrof

Moving to suggestions, leaving re-direct

Straycat

Reduce roster slot  prices and add more tokens. Roster slots are too expensive for new players, and tokens are too limited.

They could split up the 4*s and 5*s like others have suggested,  they could add a 3-4* token, an only 4*, an only 5*, etc. They could also change how bonus heroes work. Instead of randomly awarding a cover it lets you pick one.

bbigler

I suggested this before in the suggestions and feedback section: simply create smaller classic 4*/5* pools instead of 1 big pool. You could simply divide them by year: the 2017 4*/5* pool, the 2016 pool, for example. Or divide the pools to have about 6 x 5*s and 18 x 4*s. Of course, there's the logistical problem of adding new characters every 2 weeks, but it would be a step in the right direction.

rixmith

I'd like to see them make token odds change at certain Shield Ranks. Use the current odds for players below Rank 50 (for example). That way you don't disrupt the current flow of getting into the game. At the high end (say rank 100+) have Standards give 1*, 2* and 3* (like today), Elites move to 2*, 3*, 4* and then Heroics become 3*, 4*, Classic. For each token, the highest tier draw gives an automatic bonus hero like Standards do today. 

Hadronic

give me a custom a la carte token.

Ptahhotep

Leave classic legendaries as they are and only have the most recent four stars in latest legendaries.

BigSoftieFF

I have nothing to say other than, there are some really cool suggestions in here. Different tokens, different ways to bonus, etc....

i like a bunch of em!